Oh joy! Today is my last day of work til Jan 2nd! I am doing the happy dance right now! But in the meantime, here’s what’s up: Twenty years after the release of the Beastie Boys‘ memorable video for the hit single “Sabotage,” the video’s director is speaking out about the full-length film inspired by the song that never got made. Spike Jonze spoke with Indiewire about the project as well as who each of the band members were slated to play. Jonze told the website, “The four of us wrote a script together. It was called We Can Do This because it had…it was so surreal and out there and Adam “MCA” Yauch’s filmmaker alter-ego Nathanial Hornblower was a character as the director. One of the characters from “Sabotage,” Sir Stuart Wallace, was a character. Both played by Yauch and it just would’ve been ridiculous and fun…there were no 1970s cops in it, but it was definitely in the same spirit.” The Her director continued, “It was about Hornblower. Mike played a Country star–those songs we wrote for the movie, actually. Adam Horovitz played this kid, Nino Vincenzi, who lived on Roosevelt Island with his dad who was a mechanic, and he was a little bit a John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever…He had all these dreams and aspirations, but he was awkward and couldn’t dance. So he didn’t even have that going for him. But yeah, I forget all the different characters but…it would have been funny.” Horovitz acts in the upcoming film While We’re Young. Jonze’s new film Her is nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture-Comedy/Musical category. ….Asking Alexandriahas announced their tour with August Burns Red, We Came As Romans, Crown The Empire and Born of Osiris. Road Rage page will have all the details….This is sad. A former Pearl Jam CFO (chief financial officer) will be spending time in jail for embezzling over half million dollars from the band over a four year time span. According to the Seattle Weekly, Pearl Jam hired a private detective to investigate Ricky Charles Goodrich — who was a CFO at Curtis Management, the band’s current management headed by Kelly Curtis. The investigation revealed Goodrich had been using the band’s credit cards and made several wire transfers from their account in order to pay off his own debts. Curtis Management claimed a total loss of $566,000, including the investigation costs. Goodrich will be sentenced in February and prosecutors are expecting a 6-month term if he pays off the full amount that he stole from the band. If Goodrich doesn’t pay the amount, prosecutors are seeking a 14-month sentence. (Seems like a slap on the wrist, doesn’t it?) Pearl Jam has not commented on the matter, however it has been an ongoing case since June. Just shows you, if you’re in a band, you need to have someone watching your back even when you think your back is being watched!…And it wouldn’t be a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony without SOME kind of controversy, now would it?! All four original members of Kiss have been surprisingly mellow about getting together for next April’s Rock Hall Induction — but Ace Frehley says he actually has one condition about performing. Ultimate Classic Rock reported the Rock Hall producers are leaning on the original members — Frehley, Paul Stanley, Peter Criss, and Gene Simmons — to perform in full costume. During a recent radio interview, Frehley joked about needing to lose weight and shave his goatee — but remained adamant that current guitarist Tommy Thayer, who performs using Frehley’s “Spaceman,” persona cannot be in costume that night. Frehley explained: “You can’t have me and Tommy both in makeup. . . . I don’t have a problem with Tommy and (current drummer) Eric (Singer) being there out of makeup if I’m in makeup, because they’re a big part of Kiss today. (But) they had nothing to do with the beginning of Kiss, or the designs or the costumes or the makeup. . . this is about the celebration of Kiss and how it all began and started, and it should be honoring the four original members.” I wholeheartedly agree, Ace! ….Happy Birthday today to Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, who turns 49, and Spinal Tap’s Harry Shearer who turns a ripe ole 70…..From the hardDriveRadio home to yours, we wish you all the best of the holidays. If you have to travel, do it safely. See you back here Jan 2nd. (Or I might check in sporadically in case any major news breaks!)
